


Home Sweet Home

by chicka024, vampcoffeegyrl23



Series: OQ Happy Ending Week [5]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Cursed Hyperion Heights, Evil Queen | Regina Mills as Roni, F/M, Roni's Bar (Once Upon a Time)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-08 22:44:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15253674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chicka024/pseuds/chicka024, https://archiveofourown.org/users/vampcoffeegyrl23/pseuds/vampcoffeegyrl23
Summary: OQ Happy Ending Day 5: Friday - Cursed Happy Ending (Hyperion Heights)





	Home Sweet Home

[ ](http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/Shelby_Carter/media/cursedoqhh_zpskbykz6jk.jpg.html)

**Home Sweet Home**

There’s something about a guitar that Roni adores. The sound of one being played calms her, mesmerizes her, always has ever since she was a child. Back then her father would sneak away with her, away from her mother who detested anything other than a piano, and he would guide her fingers across the strings to the right frets. Music shaped her from the oppressed Regina Mills with her Sunday dresses and long hair tied up in a bun to the rebel Veronica Hart who rocks a leather jacket, short messy curls, and leopard print boots her mother would detest. It brings her comfort in the worst of times, celebrates with her in the most joyous of victories, and feeds her very soul.

 

It’s how she’d met her first love, Daniel. She’d been part of an all-girl group back in college and he’d seen her singing in the back corner of the country club stables he worked in. Other than her father, he’d been the only person to love her for who she truly was.

 

She’d lost music after he died. She’d lost herself too. She’d spiralled down a messy self-destructive path of one-night stands, drinking, drugs, stringing guys (and girls) along. She hadn’t picked up a guitar since, too traumatized by flashbacks of his death. She’d bought the bar she owns now in his memory, something they’d always planned on doing but even so, she’d been reckless.

 

It was only holding her son that brought the music back to her. When the social worker first put a fussy Henry in her arms, her maternal instincts sparked a soothing lullaby from her unused vocal cords and she remembered her love of music. After losing Daniel, adopting a child had felt right. They had wanted to adopt together so it was the perfect way to honour him.

 

She would never have had the idea for any of it if not for the night she’d gotten blitzed out drunk and had a complete mental breakdown in their old apartment. She’d trashed the place, cracking when she broke a frame with their picture in it. She had torn the photo in two but inside the frame she’d found a letter from Daniel with keys and the deed to the bar, as well as information about adoption. From then it was decided; she cleaned herself up, opened the bar and called the adoption agency. Before she knew it, Henry was staring up at her and she was signing papers to become a foster parent to this little boy whose birth mother had been too young and misguided to keep him.

 

Henry became her son the moment they met, worming his way into her heart from the moment she saw him. Losing the newborn when the agency rejected her permanent adoption application sent her reeling, casting a dark cloud over her.

 

It was in those dark times she’d met Robin, a new hire at the bar. He carried a guitar wherever he went, playing every spare moment. She pushed him away at first, her emotional wounds too fresh but Robin recognized a sadness in her that mirrored his own. Both of them knew what it felt like to lose a loved one and soon they were falling hard and fast in love, healing each other. Marriage quickly followed. Robin learned of the son she’d lost and set out to reunite her with Henry, to make the three of them a family. Roni would never forget that first night with two-year-old Henry, watching Robin sing him to sleep with Journey’s _Don’t Stop Believing._ Henry quickly latched onto Robin and their lullaby routine of a new song from different genres every night.

 

Their days were spent with their son and their nights were spent sharing partnership of the bar. Music was in every part of their lives, and they didn’t think it could get any better until another special little boy entered their lives. From the moment Roland was born, Roni and Robin knew their family was now complete. Henry embraced his role of older brother, teaching the new baby all the best songs. Their nightly musical ritual continued and Roland, at a year old, enjoyed it as much as his brother.

 

As she stands in the doorway now, the last few bars of _Hey Jude_ filling her ears while her husband  plays and sings their two beautiful boys to sleep, her heart is filled with nothing but love. She watches the rise of fall of Henry’s chest, his fingers now limp over the fairytale storybook she’d gotten him last Christmas before she looks to Roland’s whose eyes grow heavier too. Robin winks up at his wife and begins playing another melody she immediately recognizes as _Never Tear Us Apart._ She smiles back, one hand over her heart as Roland’s eyes finally close. He sucks his thumb while Robin continues playing and Roni steps forward to Henry’s bed, picks up the storybook and sets it gently down on his nightstand. Robin finishes the song as she tucks both the boys in, pressing kisses to their foreheads and whispering her love. She sighs contently, an arm winding round her waist as she leans back into Robin. She grabs one of the baby monitors and slips it into the back pocket of her jeans, watching her boys sleep a few more moments before both parents creep quietly down to the bar.

 

Roni begins her nightly clean up while Robin (who was notorious for fooling around to get out of cleaning) takes a seat on one of the barstools, strumming a few notes on the guitar still in his hand. She raises an eyebrow and looks up at him as he laughs. She rolls her eyes and ignores his teasing about the tattoo she’d gotten in college after losing a bet, snidely expressing he can sit there all he wants and watch her clean but there would be no more sugar for him if he doesn't stop playing that horrid Def Leppard song. With wide eyes he changes the tune, serenading her with Louis Armstrong’s _What A Wonderful World._ Soon enough she’s caught up in the lilt of his voice, sinking onto the barstool beside him. She takes in the words, eyeing their family portrait in the frame she keeps behind the register.

 

The arrows in the logo of the bar brings back memories of them redecorating together. They had to rid the bar of the influence of her former co-owner, Kelly, after she’d taken off one day. Arrows and feathers had always been their thing and they wanted to pay homage to that.

 

Warmth settles over her as she thinks back on their life, musing to herself how quickly things can change. Her childhood and upbringing all the way through to her early adult life had been so miserable if not the slightest bit cursed but, in just a few short years, she’s found everything she’s been looking for. Henry and Roland would grow up happy and loved and it was all she’d ever wanted.

 

By the time Robin closes out the song, a glint takes hold in her eyes and she reaches for his guitar. He beams at her proudly, watching her nervously bite her lip as shaky hands hold on to the instrument. She begins to play and it’s like she’d never stopped. The melody seamlessly flows from the strings and the Mötley Crüe lyrics tumble flawlessly from her lips. Robin reaches his hand to rest on her knee and she can feel his love and support as strongly as always as he joins in and sings of their _home sweet home._


End file.
